I think I'm a part of the first generation of journalists to skip print media entirely, and I've learned a lot these last few years at Forbes. My work has appeared on TVOvermind, IGN, and most importantly, a segment on The Colbert Report at one point. Feel free to follow me on Twitter or on Facebook, write me on Facebook or just email at paultassi(at)gmail(dot)com. I'm also almost finished with my sci-fi novel series, The Earthborn Trilogy.

Microsoft's Phil Spencer May Free Apps From Xbox Live Gold

There is a certain set of standard talking points when getting into a debate about the Xbox One and PS4. It’s the Xbox that usually attracts the lion’s share of criticism between the $100 price disparity, Kinect and being somewhat underpowered compared to its rival.

However, there is one more issue that’s rarely discussed where SonySony has an increasingly important advantage. PS Plus vs. Xbox Live Gold.

Yes, it’s true that the services have become more similar with this new console generation. Sony now requires Plus for multiplayer games, and MicrosoftMicrosoft has started to offer free games for Gold members. But Sony allows players to access PlayStation’s multimedia apps without a subscription. Microsoft requires Gold.

The problem is that this policy creates a paywall that charges Xbox customers an extra fee to access many apps that already have a paid monthly subscription themselves. It’s not just $8 a month for NetflixNetflix, it’s $5 a month for Xbox Live Gold as well on top of that.

New gaming head Phil Spencer was recently asked about the problem on Twitter, and seemed open to changing the policy once he’s settled in. Here’s the exchange:

@Th3CoreGamer: “now that you’re boss, we can start blaming you for Gold 2 play and apps behind the xbox live gold paywall right? sorry phil”

@XboxP3: “Yep, blame away. I’ll get my changes to plans in place soon, but in the meantime pile on.”

@Th3CoreGamer: “like this response.. i hope its not for show.. surprise us phil”

@XboxP3: “In today’s world show would last about 10 minutes. Not saying everyone will love everything, but we have plans.”

Many have been quick to point out that these sort of changes to Xbox Live Gold have been hinted at or promised for a while now, but I have a feeling that Microsoft will move toward making this a reality rather quickly. First, from everything we’ve heard from Phil Spencer since he took over Xbox, doesn’t seem to be messing around. Second, Microsoft is facing increased competition from gaming and non-gaming devices that offer access to all these kinds of apps without a paywall subscription like Gold.

Yes, there’s the PlayStation, but there’s also Roku, AppleApple TV, Chromecast and now of course, Amazon’s FireTV. All of these devices provide access to these apps for only what the app costs. Microsoft stands alone in hiding all of them behind the paywall of Gold.

Most Xbox owners look at Gold as simply just a part of owning an Xbox at this point, as their auto-renew has been turned out for most of the last decade. But Microsoft is very obviously limiting themselves by hiding all these much-desired apps behind a subscription service. If they truly want the Xbox One to own the living room, loosening these restrictions would put them on more of an even playing field.

Eventually, services like Plus and Gold may feel outdated altogether. Everyone pays to have internet access already, but an additional fee to be able to access online play for games may be rejected by consumers if Sony or Microsoft blinks, or new competitors force them to change. Now we can even get in bizarre situations where you’ll have an internet bill, an Xbox Live subscription and an Elder Scrolls Online monthly access fee. Three different layers of paying for the ability to play a game online.

Microsoft needs to free its apps as a start. We can discuss the rest of it as the scene continues to evolve.

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first i would like to say i don’t mind the $60 yearly cost to xbox live. now with that being said, i do not subscribe to any service. even if i did there is still no reason to cry, it’s far to many devices that can connect to netflix. i have a pc, i have blu-ray player, i have my smartphone, and tablet.

so it’s not like i couldn’t access netflix on another device. the whole thing is to get you to pay for gold and it’s working thus far.

get straight to the elder scrolls online. i would never and i mean never pay $15 a month to play one game online that’s $180 a year to play just that one title online. that’s 3x the amount of xbox live sub. then to top it off they’ll want to charge you micro transactions.

whether you like it or not both xbox live and psn are a service just like netflix, and they should be paid for to upkeep and expand the network. $8 a month and all i can do is watch movies. for the same $5 a month i get to play multi-player, chat, video chat, chat whilst watching netflix.

so to me my $60 a year is well spent and i get my moneys worth. can’t say the same would be the case paying $96 a year just to watch movies, and not even the latest movies.

so either way it goes it doesn’t matter to me, because i don’t subscribe to netflix. i have really no desire to watch youtube on my big screen, i use the internet explorer very very little.

but i still understand the people who say they are paying to access something else. hell if you don’t pay your internet bill but you payed your netflix you can still watch netflix at somebody elses house that has internet.

It’s cool that you like paying for it, but realistically you’re not getting your money’s worth considering you can do pretty much all of the things you mention for free on other devices, including competing game consoles (PS4!). Seriously, Xbox is the only device I know of that charges you to access Netflix, Amazon video, or even THE WEB BROWSER. The sooner more people paying the Xbox ransom, the sooner they stop charging for services that aren’t even theirs.

Making the apps available without an XBOX LIVE subscription would be beneficial to a small portion who don’t have XBOX LIVE GOLD. I agree with the statement that services need to be paid for maintenance and expansion. PSN has segregated the PS3 and PS4 user base by forcing all PS4 users to pay for online play while it is still free on the PS3. Surprised there is less outrage over that.

So…they aren’t taking a cut from all games sold on their platform??? They aren’t taking a cut from all accessories? There are other ways to finance the network. Why not do what the ISPs do and base it on usage. I use their services sparingly…maybe that’s why the offer me Xbox live at $30 a year. When it expires I don’t renew…why because I mainly play single player. I don’t need multiplayer…and I am okay with not accessing apps through xbox, but the truth is since I haven’t renewed live I also haven’t bought any games for the system. So maybe the apps would encourage people to purchase more content for the system…I was more likely to browse and purchase digital content, than I am now.

Actually I subscribed to SWTOR and blew through the content in two months… in total I paid $30 for the bulk of the game — still cheaper than $60 a game… sooo….yeah the funny thing about subscriptions is you only pay for what you need. If you can grind through it in a month and get bored you leave only spending $15. So the paywall isn’t that bad, but its just unnecessary…what network are they expanding for you? I believe in most cases they inserted themselves in the position of being between you and the game server.. PC players don’t have this problem.

I think it is a no brainer for Microsoft to drop the paywall for apps. It would largely be a marketing gimmick. How many gamers out there that have purchased an Xbox One don’t play multiplayer games? I doubt they wouldn’t even notice the drop in accounts from people who pay for Gold only for using apps. Good publicity for no real financial impact.

Paul, don’t bring up the idea of getting rid of paid subscriptions. There is a reason Sony started charging for online multiplayer access, and it’s because Xbox Live quite literally (and metaphorically) took a dump all over Playstation Network’s notoriously unreliable free service.

I don’t think Xbox Live or PSN Plus are going anywhere. There is no reason to bring it up at another time. When Xbox Live was the only pay service for the consoles it reigned supreme for one reason and one reason alone, the servers were the best that money could buy. Sony was not willing to just dump endless amounts of money into servers that were financed by only them. There were other reasons that Xbox Live and the 360 were kings of the online realm and now in this new generation Sony has figured out that the cost was to much to bere themselves and consumers will pay for better service. Sorry for the tangent but there is no reason for us to bring up the Pay for online service later, its never going to happen. They do, as we all agree, need to stop the paywall bullshit, we will still pay, now and until the console generation ends(not for a very long time).